The participants attending the Consultation on the Development of a National Health and Environment Geographic Information System (‎HEGIS)‎ for countries of central and Eastern Europe agreed that health and environment information systems, on both national and international levels, are useful tools for systemic collection, analysis and interpretation of health and environmental data. However their objectives differ depending on the level of data aggregation involved. (‎a)‎ At a European scale, HEGIS is a tool for health risk assessment and management ...

How can WHO get an in-depth knowledge of users' needs in health information, especially in Member States? What are the keys to more efficient national health information systems (‎NHIS)‎? Such challenges were discussed as part of a project on the assessment of national health information systems (‎NHIS)‎, launched by the Health Information unit. Systematic reviews of NHIS should be conducted at regular intervals to respond to the rapidly-evolving needs of contemporary public health. This toolkit was prepared and pilot-tested in 2003-04 in five pilot ...

WHO Member States and stakeholders are increasingly interested in "evidence-based medicine" and particularly in "evidence-based public health policy". Information and knowledge management tools and methods help by supplying available evidence on "what works" in health. The WHO Regional Office for Europe, together with the Portuguese Health Systems Observatory and the Ministry of Health of Portugal, organized this meeting to review current European developments and future prospects in these areas. The participants concluded that there is too much ...